Burned Deerfield teen responds to parents for the first time

CaptionA weight has lifted

Joe Cavaretta, Sun Sentinel

Michael Brewer, left, his mother Valerie Brewer, center, and his father Michael Brewer, joke with members of the media as they leave the courthouse after two of the teenagers charged in the Oct. 2009 burning attack pleaded no contest to second degree attempted murder, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012,...

Michael Brewer, left, his mother Valerie Brewer, center, and his father Michael Brewer, joke with members of the media as they leave the courthouse after two of the teenagers charged in the Oct. 2009 burning attack pleaded no contest to second degree attempted murder, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012,... (Joe Cavaretta, Sun Sentinel)

Jesus Mendez, one of three teens charged in the Oct. 2009 burning attack of Michael Brewer, pleaded no contest to second degree attempted murder, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. Matthew Bent declined to plea and will go to trial in March.

Jesus Mendez, one of three teens charged in the Oct. 2009 burning attack of Michael Brewer, pleaded no contest to second degree attempted murder, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. Matthew Bent declined to plea and will go to trial in March. (Joe Cavaretta)

Denver Jarvis, one of three teens charged in the Oct. 2009 burning attack of Michael Brewer pleaded no contest to second degree attempted murder, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. A third teen declined to plea and will go to trial in March.

Denver Jarvis, one of three teens charged in the Oct. 2009 burning attack of Michael Brewer pleaded no contest to second degree attempted murder, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. A third teen declined to plea and will go to trial in March. (Joe Cavaretta)

Matthew Bent, one of three teens charged in the Oct. 2009 burning attack of Michael Brewer, looks back at his family Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. The other two teens pleaded no contest to second degree attempted murder, but Bent will go to trial...

Matthew Bent, one of three teens charged in the Oct. 2009 burning attack of Michael Brewer, looks back at his family Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. The other two teens pleaded no contest to second degree attempted murder, but Bent will go to trial... (Joe Cavaretta)

Denver Jarvis, one of three teens charged in the Oct. 2009 burning attack of Michael Brewer pleaded no contest to second degree attempted murder, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.

Denver Jarvis, one of three teens charged in the Oct. 2009 burning attack of Michael Brewer pleaded no contest to second degree attempted murder, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. (Joe Cavaretta, Sun Sentinel)

The boys have been charged with aggravated assault. One of them is also charged with attempted second-degree murder.

People from all across the state and country have been calling to offer support to the victim, Martinez said.

A foundation he set up to help pay the boy's medical expenses had raised $740 in donations as of Wednesday night. Martinez said his goal is to eventually expand the foundation to help other burn victims.

"We should not look at this just as a tragedy," he said. "It could be a blessing also."

Brewer's mother said today she believes her son will survive, even as his doctor predicted his condition will worsen before it gets better.

"He's very strong," Valerie Brewer said on the NBCToday show. "I know he's going to pull through this."

Valerie Brewer said she has hardly been away from her son's bedside. He can't talk because he has tubes in his throat, but he makes motions with his hands and responds to her voice, she said.

She used appearances this morning on national television to make a plea for the public to do more to end violence among young people.

"People need to really wake up and see what is going on with this generation," Brewer said on ABC'sGood Morning America show.

Dr. Nicholas Namias, director of the hospital's Burn Center, said it was premature to talk about Michael Brewer being out of the woods as far as his recovery is concerned.

But investigators say the Jarvis brothers were part of a group that lit Brewer ablaze.

The other three facing aggravated assault charges are: Jesus Mendez, 15, also charged with attempted murder as the boy accused of actually lighting the fire; Steven Shelton, who turns 16 Thursday; and Matthew Bent, 15, accused of directing the attack in retaliation for his arrest Sunday for allegedly trying to steal Brewer's father's custom bicycle.

Danielle Jarvis said her brothers were hanging with a bad crowd in a bad neighborhood, but she never thought any of them were capable of the crime that left Brewer hospitalized with burns overtwo-thirds of his body.

"My brothers don't go around lighting people on fire," she said. "I don't know what possessed any of those kids to do that."

All five boys were ordered held in a juvenile detention center for 21 days. Their next court appearance is Nov. 2. Prosecutors have not said whether they'll attempt to have them tried as adults.

Shelton's mother, Patricia Hollis, walked out of the courtroom in tears after his first appearance Wednesday morning. She said she didn't want to talk about her son, but earlier she told WFOR-Ch. 4that her son was not involved in the incident.

"I feel so sorry for [Brewer], I really do. And it's sad. It really is," Hollis said. "My prayers go out to him and his family."

Outside Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami Wednesday, doctors said Brewer faces a long road to recovery. He remains in intensive care and on a ventilator, Namias said.

"The next step will be an operation to remove burn tissue and replace it with either temporary grafts or to start with grafts from his own body," Namias said.

And he said Brewer's condition will worsen before it improves.

"The easiest days are the first days," he said. He said Brewer's survival and recovery will depend on how well his body responds over the next couple of weeks to the consequences of being burnedalive.

Arrest reports show all five suspects are students at Deerfield Beach Middle School, though that is disputed by the attorney representing Denver Jarvis.

At the school Wednesday, students said they were shocked by the violence of the incident, but once that shock wore off, they were not surprised to hear who was accused. The only exception wasJeremy Jarvis, the small-framed, baby-faced wisecracker more likely to get tossed out of a classroom for talking too much than for anything physical.

Jonathan Skalaranko, 13, said rumors were racing through the school Monday after Bent was arrested for trying to steal Brewer's bicycle. When word spread Tuesday about the attack, Skalaranko saidhe couldn't believe it.

"I was just shocked," he said. "I thought they were lying."

Students said Brewer was originally friends with the other boys, but that had recently changed. The Broward Sheriff's Office said that was because Bent accused Brewer of failing to repay $40 he hadborrowed to buy a video game. The attempted bicycle theft was an attempt to collect on that debt, the Sheriff's Office said, but Brewer called 911.

That got him labeled a snitch, the word used to taunt Brewer during the attack at the Lime Tree Apartments on the 400 block of Southeast 13th Court. None of the teens tried to help Brewer oncethe fire started, according to the arrest reports. Mendez, accused of setting the blaze, also got a taste of the pain Brewer felt when his arm was scorched.

Brewer jumped into a nearby pool to put out the flames, sparing the worst damage to his hands and face, doctors said.

At Deerfield Beach Middle, classmates put up posters asking for donations to help pay Brewer's medical expenses. Buckets were passed in classrooms to take up collections.

According to court records, the father of the Jarvis children also faced trouble over setting a fire decades ago. Archived Broward court records show that back in 1984 when Denver Colorado JarvisSr. was 20, he ignited and threw a Molotov cocktail into a neighbor's Pompano Beach yard.

He eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years of probation. A formal felony conviction was withheld from his criminal record.

Staff Writers Alexia Campbell and Tonya Alanez and Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@SunSentinel.com or954-356-4694.

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